“Go back to sleep, Lisa,” he said. “The minute you open your eyes, your mind lights up and blows everything I’m trying to do with you.” She could hear the humor in his voice. “Can’t you do anything right?”
“You should talk.” Her throat was painfully dry and she was hoarse. “I saved your life, didn’t I? If you were going to rescue me, you should have done it better. I shouldn’t have been put in that situation.”
“There’s a possibility you may be right.” He came toward the bed, and she felt a straw slipped between her lips. Cold water slid down her throat, easing the dryness. “So I’ll refrain from giving you a scathing retort that would completely devastate you.”
“It wouldn’t devastate me.” But she knew it would. She could accept disapproval from anyone else, but never from Seth. “How long have I been here?”
“In this hospital? About twelve hours.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “You were obliging enough during that period to sleep and let me have time to heal you. But I’m not finished. So go back to sleep.”
“I will.” She took another sip of water. “So I’m not going to die or anything?”
He chuckled. “No, though I’m not sure what you mean by ‘anything.’ You know I wouldn’t let that happen to you. Though you made it very difficult for me.”
“I had to do it. They wanted to hurt you in some way. I don’t know how, but I knew I couldn’t let you come.”
“So you called Jane instead.” His voice was suddenly steely. “Not a good idea, Lisa. It can’t happen again.”
“That made you angry? I didn’t want to hurt her. I like her. But it was either her or you. It couldn’t be you.”
“And it can’t be her. Understood?”
“Maybe. She didn’t fight it; she just came.”
“Because that’s Jane. Not again.”
She knew that tone and she couldn’t bear for him to be angry with her. “Not again.” She reached out and touched his hand in the darkness. He felt warm and hard and alive. “Turn on the light. I want to see you.”
“And I want you to go back to sleep.”
“I’ll turn it on,” she said, then added deliberately, “Though it might hurt me to do it.”
“Brat.” He reached over to the bedside table and flipped on the lamp. “Five minutes.”
“Maybe. If you’re so good at this blood stuff, you might be able to spare a few more minutes.” Her eyes hungrily raked his features. “Though I don’t know why I should want to look at you anyway. You didn’t come to see me for all those years.”
“It was for the best. It wasn’t as if I neglected you.”
No, the link had always been there when she needed him. But it wasn’t like seeing him, being able to reach out and touch him. “But you left me with those … people. Teresa and Gino didn’t like you any more than our mother and father did. You shouldn’t have done that.”
“It was safer for you.” He smiled crookedly. “And I knew that you wouldn’t be exposed to them too much. Gino and Teresa were always completely self-involved. You had the best tutors; you went to the best schools and had the safety of a normal household when you weren’t at school.” He paused. “And there wasn’t anything normal about me. I was trying to save you from that.”
“I never asked you to do it,” she said fiercely. “I don’t want to be saved from you. You’re my brother. You’re the only one in the world I love. I don’t care about normal.” Her hand tightened on his. “And you told me a long time ago that I wasn’t normal, either. I’m like you. So stop shutting me out.”
“I also told you that pretense could save you,” he said quietly. “And it did for a long time.”
“But it didn’t save me from Santara.”
He slowly shook his head. “No, it didn’t.” He reached down and gently touched the bruise on her cheek. “And that’s when I realized that it was time for the pretense to be over.”
She felt a rush of relief. “Thank heaven. I don’t think I could have kept my promise much longer. You were wrong, Seth.”
“So Jane told me.” He tilted his head. “But not entirely. I’ll release you from your promise, but I’ll ask another one. That you don’t volunteer the fact that you’re a freak like me. Use the talent if it becomes necessary, but I don’t want you to become a target. A talent is always weakened if an enemy knows you have it.”
She grinned at him. “No other rules?”
“In the end, you’ll make your own rules.” He grimaced. “And mistakes. And I’d be a hypocrite if I gave you rules when I don’t obey them myself.”
“I think you do have rules.” She gazed at him, trying to put it into words. “They’re just … different.” She paused. “And I’ve never wanted to use the blood talent on anyone but Santara. Then I really wanted to do it.”
“It will probably come again. Maybe you’ll have a perspective on it by that time.” He smiled recklessly. “Or maybe not. If you make mistakes, come to me and I’ll try to get you out of them.”
She shook her head. “That would mean getting you into trouble to save myself. I couldn’t do that.”
“You see, you’re already far ahead of me on that scale. I must have been right to keep you to that promise all these years.”
“You weren’t right to keep me away from you.” She lifted his hand to her cheek. “I don’t care what anyone thinks of me. Do you know how angry I got whenever our parents called you a freak? They had no right to hurt you like that. I wanted to hit them. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would have.”
“You came close enough. I was far beyond being hurt by them by the time you were trying to come to my defense.” He smiled. “But I remembered it later and it gave me a certain warmth.”
“Good.”
“And it also drove home the fact that you were extremely emotional and could be hurt.” He took his hand from her grasp. “And that I had to make certain no one would ever call you that until you were old enough to have developed a tough skin.”
She grinned. “So it comes back to your always being right?”
He grinned back at her. “Of course. What else?” He reached over and turned out the lamp. “You’re only nineteen. You have many lessons to learn and many rivers to cross. I’ll start teaching you how to control the blood talent tomorrow. It won’t take that long. Your body is instinctively teaching you on its own. We’ll let the Persuasive talent go for the time being. It takes a lot more time and study, and you may not have the knack for it.” He chuckled. “Though Jane believes it might do you a world of good.”
She giggled. “Attitude adjustment.”
“I believe that might help you.” He got to his feet and moved back to his chair across the room. “Now go back to sleep and let me finish that arterial healing. We’ve got a busy schedule ahead.”
“I don’t want to go to sleep. I want to talk to you.”
“Do it anyway. I don’t want to have to help it along.” His voice was suddenly coaxing. “Consider it a first lesson assignment.”
“Okay.” She was quiet for a while. “But I’m never going to let you send me away again. Not ever. Not unless you just don’t want me. Then I’d go. Could that ever happen, Seth?”
He was silent. “Not in this lifetime, Lisa.”
Relief. Joy. Hope.
“Then I’ll go to sleep.” She closed her eyes. “First lesson?” She concentrated and felt the blood in her body slow and her mind blur. “Easy, Seth.…”
* * *
“You fool.” Teresa Romano could barely control her voice. She wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the stupid son of a bitch. “You said you had the perfect setup, Santara. That there was no way anyone could find you on San Leandro. Well, someone did, didn’t they? You’re sure it was Caleb?”
“I’m sure. I showed his photo on my phone to the people on Zakyos Island and they identified him. He was with a woman who registered at the inn as Jane MacGuire. She was here, too. I caught a glimpse of her on the boa
t. You never mentioned her.”
“I don’t know her. But I will soon.” She added icily, “And you will, too. You’ll know everything about Caleb and MacGuire and anyone else who is protecting Lisa.”
“You want me to go after her again? I told you that I shot her. I’m not sure she’s still alive.”
“And you may have eliminated her use to me.” Her rage was rising by the moment. “But perhaps not. I’ll have to see. Caleb wanted Lisa badly enough to come after her this time. If you’re not too much of an ass, you might be able to gather him up if you can get hold of her again.” She was trying to think. “I didn’t want to handle it that way, but I may have to make a change. We have to use every bit of everything we’ve got to make this come out right.”
“It would be simpler for me just to go after Caleb now.”
“‘Simpler’?” Her voice was shaking. “He made a fool of you, and he didn’t even do half of what he’s capable of doing.”
“He didn’t make a fool of me,” Santara said harshly. “I don’t know how he found us. The girl didn’t contact anyone, and she sure didn’t call him. But it doesn’t matter now how he found her. I’m going to find her and find him and serve them up to you. Okay, Caleb is good, or he wouldn’t have been able to do what he did to my men. But I’ve known men in the field who are probably just as good. I’m just as good. He just caught me by surprise.”
“He made a fool of you.”
“Don’t say that. I won’t take that from anyone.”
Teresa knew she’d better back away for the moment. Santara was obviously angry and humiliated, and that might serve her well. Also, he was a bird in the hand and she didn’t have time to go looking for another man with his qualifications. “Then prove to me that you’re the man I hired. Give me what I want and there will be a bonus for you. Maybe you won’t underestimate Caleb from now on. Just realize that he’s lethal and we need to keep him under control until we get him in a position where I can force him to finish Haroun. Find his Achilles’ heel, dammit.”
“No doubt about it,” Santara said roughly. “How much time do I have?”
“Haroun is still not critical, but it could change at any minute. Keep that in mind.” She hung up.
Teresa sat there trying to compose herself. It was going to be difficult to go back to Gino and face him with Santara’s failure. She was gradually easing all power away from Gino, but she was not there yet. And he was always ready to blame her when things went wrong. He never took into account that almost every positive thing in their lives was there because she had stepped forward and made it happen. He had always dragged his feet in the mud, and she had made their life a glowing success.
And in this disaster she would do the same thing. She stood up and lifted her chin and strode from the room to tell Gino that son of a bitch Seth Caleb had managed to spoil her plans.
But only for the moment.
* * *
“I’m relieved,” Eve said. “Lisa is going to be all right?”
“So Caleb said, and you know no one argues with Caleb,” Jane replied.
“Except you.”
“I didn’t want to argue about that. I was too scared. I haven’t heard from him since yesterday, but I think he would have told me if she’d gotten worse. I’m just grateful we were able to get her away from Santara without getting her killed.”
“I’m grateful, too.” Eve chuckled. “But I think that Joe will be a little disappointed that you managed to wrap it up in just these last couple days. He was all set to fly over to help you find her.”
“Was he?” Jane found herself smiling. “That’s like him. But I’m glad that it wasn’t necessary. You need a backup team with Michael.”
“True. But we had it all worked out. In fact, it was Michael-approved.” She changed the subject. “How are the lights working out?”
“Still installing. MacDuff is wildly enthusiastic. I was down in the mist this morning helping out.”
“I imagine he was glad to have the help. We ought to do something about that.”
“Caleb’s still at the hospital, working with Lisa. MacDuff will survive until he’s able to get back here.” She paused. “Providing Caleb doesn’t find something else he wants to do.”
“Santara?”
“He hurt Lisa. Caleb loves her. Do the math.”
“I already have. I remember what Caleb did to Jelak after he killed his sister Maria.” Eve was silent. “MacDuff might have to do without Caleb.”
“So be it. He’s not irreplaceable.”
“He only thinks so.” Eve was laughing. “I believe we’ll have to show him he’s wrong. In fact, it’s already in the works.”
“What?”
“Nothing. I have go now. Joe is on the other line. I’ll have to break the news to him that you don’t need him to find Lisa. But I believe I can substitute something that will mollify him. Love you. Bye.” She hung up.
Jane was smiling bemusedly as put down her phone. Those last few sentences had been a bit cryptic, and Eve was seldom cryptic. She was always honest and aboveboard. Oh, well, not to worry. Eve had sounded cheerful enough. She would ask her what she meant when they next talked.
She got to her feet and moved down the hill to the campfire. She’d grab a cup of coffee and go back to the north bank and see if she could help again. As usual, the mist was calling her.
Cira was calling her.
We got Lisa back, Cira. Maybe you already know that. Do you care? She’s just as contrary and difficult as I thought. But she knows about love and sacrifice, and that might even the balance. I think it would for you.
The late-afternoon breeze was ruffling the surface of the lake and turning the mist into shifting phantom figures. Jane cradled her cup of coffee in her two hands and gazed into the mist, trying to see if one of them was Cira.
Her phone rang and she looked away from the lake to the ID.
Caleb.
She accessed the call. “Is she okay?”
“Fine. Healing fast and becoming more difficult with every passing minute,” he said. “She wants to see you. Can you come right away? If not, I’ll put up with her until you can. But I really need to get away from her before she—” He laughed. “She threw her pillow at me. I don’t believe she’s supposed to be able to do that in her condition. Perhaps she’s even better than I thought. Except for her foul temper.”
“But you want me to put up with it?”
“Fresh blood.”
“That’s between the two of you. I prefer to keep mine intact.”
“Are you coming?”
“Yes. You knew I would.”
“Yes, I did.” He chuckled. “I promise I’ll give her a lecture on how to treat guests.”
“Which will only antagonize her.”
“Exactly. But she has to learn how to handle it. She’s clearly not been properly taught by all those schools and tutors. Which she blames solely on me.”
“And probably rightly.”
“Possibly. I’ll see you when you get here.” He hung up.
She threw the remains of her coffee into the flames after pocketing her phone. Then she started up the hill to her tent to clean up. It appeared she wasn’t going to be spending the rest of the day with Cira, but with an equally challenging female. She was actually looking forward to it.
After all, anyone who would throw a pillow at Caleb couldn’t be all bad.
* * *
“At last,” Caleb drawled mockingly. “You took your time. Have you no sense of my suffering?”
“I thought you’d survive,” she said as she walked into the hospital room. “I had to clean up. I spent the morning down in the mist with Jock and MacDuff.”
“And Cira.”
“Yes, and Cira.” She looked at Lisa. “You look much better than when I left yesterday.” It was an understatement. Lisa’s eyes were bright and alert and she was only a little pale. “How do you feel?”
“I want to leave here.” She look
ed challengingly at Caleb. “I should know when I’m ready, shouldn’t I?”
“No,” he said. “I should know. And you’re not and you’ll leave here tomorrow after I find a safe place for you. Right now, I need to go and shower and change and make a few phone calls.” He turned to Jane. “I expect Lisa to be here when I come back.” He glanced at Lisa. “And I expect Jane to be happy with you and not telling me that you misbehaved.”
“Children misbehave.” Lisa met his eyes. “I’m not a child. She’ll have to take her chances.”
“No, you’ll have to take yours,” Jane said with a smile as she dropped down in a chair beside the bed. “Run along, Caleb. We can get along fine without you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he murmured. “Enjoy.…”
The next moment, he was gone.
“I really do need to get out of here, Jane,” Lisa said immediately. “You can see I’m doing well and I—”
“Don’t test the waters. I agree with Caleb. If I didn’t, we could talk about it.” Jane leaned back in her chair. “But what we could talk about is the real reason you want to leave here.”
“Because it’s sensible for me to do it when I don’t need to be here any longer. I’m a little weak, but I can take care of myself.”
“Caleb doesn’t think so. What does one more day matter?”
She grinned. “I get impatient. It’s my nature. So convince him to spring me from this place.”
Jane tilted her head and gazed at her. “Is that why you couldn’t do without my company, and I had to run, not walk, here? I thought it was a little strange. Caleb seemed to be all you needed or wanted.”
Lisa’s smile faded. “I did want to see you. I wanted to thank you. Seth wasn’t pleased with me that I used you and put you in danger. I told him I didn’t want to do it. I like you.”
“But you love your brother.”
“Yes,” she said jerkily. “I love Seth. I had to save him, no matter what.” She lifted her chin. “I can see why you wouldn’t understand.”